Muscle activation during resistance exercise at 70% and 90% 1‐repetition maximum in resistance‐trained men

Abstract

Across all repetitions, 90% 1RM appears to produce greater muscle activation during the leg press exercise, but similar peak EMG was observed during the final common repetitions of each set. Muscle Nerve 56: 505-509, 2017.

Evaluation of the Lower Limb Muscles’ Electromyographic Activity during the Leg Press Exercise and Its Variants: A Systematic Review

“…The quadriceps muscles, both the vastus medialis and the vastus lateralis, elicited the greatest muscle activation during the leg press, followed closely by the rectus femoris (Table 2). In addition, greater overall muscle activation was found for all the muscles as the leg press exercise intensity increased [6,12,33].…”

“…This is because greater muscle activation, and with it greater surface electromyographic (sEMG) amplitude and a greater number of motor units recruited, is normally essential for motor control, skills improvement, and strength and power development [4]. In humans, the force of a muscle contraction is partly regulated by the number, frequency, and synchronization of the motor units recruited [5,6]. Low threshold motor units are mainly recruited in low intensity exercises, whereas both low and high threshold motor units are recruited during high intensity exercises [6] or low intensity exercises performed to task failure [7].…”

“…In humans, the force of a muscle contraction is partly regulated by the number, frequency, and synchronization of the motor units recruited [5,6]. Low threshold motor units are mainly recruited in low intensity exercises, whereas both low and high threshold motor units are recruited during high intensity exercises [6] or low intensity exercises performed to task failure [7].…”

“…Different studies have shown that muscle activation varies during multi-joint, lower-body strength training exercises depending on the intensity [6,12] and the variants of the exercise itself [12]. The leg press is performed using closed-chain kinetic effort [13] and the hip and knee extension involves large lower-body muscle groups (the quadriceps, hamstring, gluteus, and gastrocnemius) [14].…”

“…In this regard, some authors attributed a preferential activation of vastus medialis to the external feet rotation [15,23], whereas others assessed the influence of knee external or internal resistance on vastus medialis during leg press [20,24]. Finally, various authors have assessed the influence of exercise intensity on muscle activity during the leg press exercises [6,12,25].…”